•Inside the insanity that rocked Imo, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra
•Security men now disguise in mufti
•Experts finger youth neglect, high unemployment as monster
By Mudiaga Affe, Cajetan Mmuta and Idu Jude

The drumbeat of insecurity, uncertainty and discontent is echoing across the country.
From Borno, Zamfara, Ondo, Oyo, Benue, Kaduna Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo and many other states in the country, the reigning words on the palate of many citizens are turmoil, chaos, violence and blood.

In fact, what remains from coming out of their mouths is that a total declaration of war has been waged against the country. Interestingly, the hostility is not being carried out by any formal foreign enemy forces seeking territorial expansion but, this time around, by supposedly native gunmen, insurgents, kidnappers, armed robbers, cultists, herdsmen and other agents of violence hell-bent on suffocating the country.

And these agents of blood bath are not relaxing. They are, indeed, succeeding, especially with the growing and worsening level of insecurity in the land.

Nowadays, the common horrendous crimes in the land are killings, kidnappings, raping, torching of police formations, destruction of farmlands among other sundry vices. If it is not in the North-East, North-West, or North-Central, it is in the South-West, South-South or South-East.

For example, the situation in the South-East alone in the last one week, is a pointer to the degree of turmoil in the land. As of the last count, in Owerri, Imo State, gunmen raided and torched about three police formations and a correctional facility, setting free no fewer than 1,800 inmates.

No fewer than 50 vehicles were burnt by the attackers; just as the military base at Ukwuorji along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway was also torched. Similarly, gunmen visited their attacks on Ehime Mbano Divisional Police station where they carted away arms and ammunition.

The wave of violence in recent times, did not end in Imo State. In Kaduna and Akwa Ibom states, state actors in order to rout out undesirable elements, invaded enemy forests in the states, leaving in their track deaths, violence and all manner of devastation.
So far and still counting, no fewer than 80,000 lives have been lost, three million persons displayed and millions of arms in the comfy hands of unauthorised persons in the country.

In short, a former military Head of State and National Peace Committee Chairman, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubukar, painted this grim picture at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja a few days ago.

These ugly developments and statistics have set tongues wagging. While some Nigerians attribute this spiralling battle, as it were, to the effects of social circumstances such as unemployment, poverty, and despondency, others link it to poor security architecture accompanied by inadequate funding, as well as the politics of 2023.

The South-East debacle

At the epicentre of the chaos of the bloody violence, killings, and maiming of innocent lives are the activities of suspected gunmen who operated under the guise of Fulani herdsmen, Eastern Security Network (ESN) linked with members of proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), bloody rival secret cult activities and other criminal elements, terrorising the zone.

Aside from the violent eruptions and losses attendant with these ugly developments, kidnapping for huge ransoms has become the order of the day. The states of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo have become targets for the deadly activities of gunmen with massive evidence of deaths, horror, terror, and destructions.

The perpetrators of these gruesome attacks have directed their hit at security men in the five states of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo respectively with receipts of sore shares.

While the pain of the massacre in Ebonyi State in which no fewer than 26 persons were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen has yet to abate, Uzo-Uwani council area in Enugu State was visited with similar attacks that left eight persons dead.

Anambra State was not spared as gunmen stormed different duty posts mounted by security men. Three policemen and four naval officers were killed. This is in addition to others whose lives were snuffed out not too long ago in similar attacks in different locations in the state.

In the same Anambra State, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor and aspirant of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), for the November 6, 2021 governorship election, Prof. Charles Soludo, escaped death by a whisker.

Security men disguise in mufti, desert checkpoints
At the moment, safety and security are far away from the people and residents.

Findings by ThisNigeria indicate that policemen no longer wear their official uniforms in public, while several roads have been deserted of the presence of security checks over the fear of the unknown.

Social life has dramatically scaled down amid rising tension in most parts of the states as public gatherings have become targets of possible attacks and kidnappings.

According to checks by ThisNigeria, from Awka and Onitsha in Anambra State to Owerri, Orlu in Imo State, to Obollo-Afor Nsukka in Enugu State and Aba to Umuahia in Abia State, among other major routes, security checks and roadblocks have suddenly disappeared.

However, there is a heavy security presence at police command headquarters as well as Correctional facilities in Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Abia.

Experts finger youth neglect, high unemployment
Former President, Ijaw Youth Forum, Dr. Chris Ekiyo, fingered failed leadership and the inability to prioritise youth programmes, saying the gap has led to the spate of insecurity across the country.

According to Ekiyo, the involvement of youths in the destruction of government infrastructure is a way of attracting government attention to their yearnings and aspirations.

Ekiyo said, “Be it Boko Haram in the North; OPC in the South-West; IPOB or MASSOB in the South-East, all were borne out of the government’s inability to create a space for youths to build their lives and have a sense of belonging.

“You see what makes the youth do what they do is when the citizens think that the government is not playing their part in ensuring that youths are empowered. Again is that unemployment, hunger, and neglect have become a normal thing?

“Government officials take care of themselves, the National Assembly members, appropriate and pay themselves and, of course, they are the highest-paid parliamentarians across the world. So, when youths think of how to make the government listen to their plight having exhausted all avenue, now indulge in attacking the infrastructure”

Ekiyo, however, advised that the government should henceforth begin to engage the youth in all they do.

Also, Ifeatu Okoye, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to Governor Willie Obiano, linked the development in the South-East to the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest of 2020.

He noted that the Anambra State always enjoyed a sense of relative peace for six years, continuous until the EndSARS protest, adding that the protest led to the sudden release or escape of criminals who were in detention.

I-G Baba says South-East, South-South have critical security situation

Okoye said, “The second part of it was the burning of police stations which came with the looting of arms and ammunition; all these things are now in the hands of these armed robbers and criminals who escaped from either the prisons or from the confinements of Special Anti-Robbery Squad and I want to believe that it is the same people that are dishing out this terror on the people.

“When you also look at their modus operandi, you find out that they are tendentiously annoyed with the police. They must have something against the police and police have confirmed that these people probably come out from SARS confinements.”
For a human rights activist, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, the insecurity in the polity could be linked to politicisation of the security architecture and inadequate funding.

He said,“Insecurity is growing and worsening day by day in Nigeria for a couple of reasons. Government is politicising security. The criteria for the appointment of heads of security agencies are not competence and professionalism, but politics, ethnicity and religion.

“It is either that government is not investing enough in security or the resources invested are being mismanaged. Either way, the buck stops with the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The primary purpose of government is security and welfare. If the President is incapable of securing the citizens he is ‘elected’ to secure, then, we (Nigerians) should not hesitate to ask him to resign”.

Way forward
Speaking with ThisNigeria on ways of addressing the situation, a former Army spokesperson, Brigadier Sani Usman, stated that the government has failed to adopt the modern technologies in protecting government infrastructure.

“Look, government amenities need to be protected. The schools in the 21st-century lack common fences, CCTV, and modern security apparatus, it is unlike other developed world and we keep insinuating that we are the giant of Africa.

“Take a look at the police stations which have been so vulnerable, the markets, electrical facilities as well as other government infrastructure.

Before we stress it, let me remind us of what is written in section 14 of the Nigerian constitution, which stipulates that protection of citizens and their properties are the number one priority of the leadership. How much have we thought about that? Have we thought of the use of cameras in tracking down vandals?

“Today, we have a record of over 80,000 people killed and over three million displaced according to the former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.). Something urgently needs to be done.”

Similarly, an Assistant Commandant in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Jonathan Iyoho, said the issue of youth development and unemployment should be tackled.

“I think that the reason for all these incessant attacks by the youth is to prove a point. The government cannot create job opportunities and whether they are doing it rightly or wrongly,” he stated.